Title: 赤めだか Aka Medaka
English Title: Red Medaka
Country: Japan
Language: Japanese
Year: 2015
Episode: 01
Cast:
- 二宮和也 Ninomiya Kazunari
- 北野武 Kitano Takeshi ( ビートたけし Beat Takeshi)
- 濱田岳 Hamada Gaku
- 香川照之 Kagawa Teruyuki
- 北村有起哉 Kitamura Yukiya
- 宮川大輔 Miyagawa Daisuke
- さだまさし Sada Masahi
- 新井浩文 Arai Hirofumi
- 柄本時生 Emoto Tokio
- 清野菜名 Seino Nana
- 春風亭昇太 Shunputei Shota
- 寺島進 Terajima Susumu
- 岸本加世子 Kishimoto Kayoko
- 坂井真紀 Sakai Maki
- リリー・フランキー Lily Franky
- ラサール石井 Lasalle Ishii
- 薬師丸ひろ子 Yakushimaru Hiroko
SYNOPSIS
Sasaki Nobuyuki wants to quit high school because he aspires to be a rakugoka, someone who performs rakugo. He wants to train in the Tatekawa Ryu school under Tatekawa Danshi.
Danshi has an unusual way of doing things that goes against tradition. Danshi doesn't have apprentices who lives with him at his house, so his students need to have the financial support of their parents for living expenses. He doesn't permit his students to have part-time jobs because he wants them to focus on learning rakugo.
Danshi accepts Nobuyuki as one of his students, and he gives him the name Tatekawa Danshun.
REVIEW
Aka Medaka is an interesting drama about rakugo, a form of Japanese entertainment where a rakugoka tells comical stories on a stage.
I think it's amazing that Sasaki Nobuyuki knows for certain that he wants to become a rakugoka. Perhaps I'm too practical for my own good, but I thought he should at least finish high school before he undergoes rakugo training, so that he has something to fall back on if the rakugo career doesn't work out.
It was fascinating to learn how aspiring rakugoka undergo training and how they become professionals. However, since Tatekawa Danshi has his own special way of training his students, the traditional way of learning rakugo is not explicitly shown in the drama.
?, also known as Okami-san: We don't need anyone here who can't be aware of their surroundings and adjust accordingly!
Tatekawa Danshi: "People whose jealousy burns slowly like coal don't scorch themselves and don't even grow as a person."
Tatekawa Danshi: I'll tell you what jealousy is. You see, while you're not trying to better yourself, you point out another person's flaws to bring them down to your level, that's what we call jealousy. By all rights, if you want to get ahead, you should be able to do so by just living your life. However, people can't really do that. It's easier to be jealous.
Tatekawa Danshi: But you remember this, reality is truth. Saying "It's because of the times!" or "The world is at fault!", that's not going to change anything. Reality is reality. Understand your situation, then analyze it. There's always a reason things became the way they are. Once you find that (reason), you've just got to act. Someone who can't assess their situation is, by my standards, an idiot.
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赤めだか Aka Medaka
